“Hard times create strong men. Strong men create good times. Good times create weak men. And, weak men create hard times.” — G. Michael Hopf, “Those Who Remain.”
Friday, Oct. 23, was the anniversary of a very auspicious day for the Hungarian people — my country of heritage.
On Oct. 23, 1956, patriotic and frankly fed-up Magyar, tired of the oppressive rule of the Soviet Union, and reportedly buoyed by a tirade by Nikita Khrushchev against Josef Stalin, staged the only successful revolution against Soviet rule.
Hungarians, particularly students, were looking to banish the Soviet military presence and boost the local economy through reform.
From Oct. 23 to Nov. 10, Hungarians enjoyed a form of self-rule, until the communism sympathetic prime minister Kádár János pleaded to Moscow, which sent troops to crush the rebellion.
Once the grip of the USSR was reestablished, the “trials” resulted in around 300 executions and thousands of imprisonments, and about 200,000 people headed for the hills, many eventually ending up in the U.S.
(For the record, my women of my family left Hungary at the end of World War II, residing in Germany until the 1950s, when they joined the rest of the “56-ers” in moving to the U.S. as a displaced person.)
While short-lived, the event to this day is remembered with reverence by all Hungarians. More to what will soon be my point, though, is that it also is remembered as an event when people, tired of being pawns to a government, said, “Enough!” or “Nem szabad!”)
I’ve pointed out many times that in regard to the immigration debate, my mother, grandmother, etc., followed the law to become U.S. citizens, even with the same excuses being bandied about today for leniency and amnesty for today’s immigrants.
But just like with the revolutionaries who stood and said “Enough” to King George, these people became tired of oppression, throwing off economic and political shackles and embracing self-determination.
When I read — pretty much on a daily basis — that our society is actively seeking to create a “socialist utopia” (an oxymoron if there ever was one), I become morose. I am saddened by the thought that the very people who have grown up enjoying the freedoms that this country offers are lobbying to have those freedoms dictated to them by other people.
There could be many ways this kind of disconnect was created. It could be that a watered-down version of history has been placed in schools. It could be that college professors have embraced the theory of socialism while ignoring the practice, meaning that on paper it might be a good idea, but in reality, it is one of the worst forms of government around. It could be that years of prosperity and slow absorption of control by government has created a generation completely unused to self-sufficiency, one that prefers to be left alone after receiving monthly pay, food and other means of survival and living.
Seriously, who advocates for destruction? Simply in terms of human capital, socialists have been the direct cause of tens of millions of deaths, ruined countries and ruined economies. The up-and-coming crop of politicians who have embraced this communism (yeah, socialism is communism, don’t kid yourself) have already started demonizing the more wealthy among us; once that’s done, that bar will be lowered until everyone will be wards of an out-of-control state, because, as Margaret Thatcher so wisely pointed out, “Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They always run out of other people's money.”
That phrase has been born out time and again, yet here we are, snowballing downhill toward the same outcome of poverty and dictatorship. This time, though, it seems we are doing it willingly, electing hammerheads who openly claim that what is yours is yours only by leave of the state.
Or, as philosopher George Santayana said, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
So I will choose to remember that freedom isn’t necessarily free, and that it requires constant vigilance to maintain. And I will proclaim, “Talpra Egyesült Államok, hí a haza! Éljen a Egyesült Államok szabadság!” (“Rise, United States, the homeland calls! Long live United States freedom!”)
Then, I will race to the polls to make sure my vote is cast for candidates that prefer freedom.
Tony Farkas is editor of the Trinity County News-Standard and the San Jacinto News-Times. He can be reached at tony@polkcountypublishing.com.
